Champions League 23/10 - Rangers Dominates Spanish Giants Barcelona To Earn Draw

Scottish giants Rangers put up a massive rearguard action to thwart Barcelona's much vaunted strikeforce to earn a creditable 0-0 draw during the Champions League round played last night. It stretched their unbeaten run in this season's contest to 3 runs, on the back of 2 successive victories over Stuttgart and Lyon.

Despite a brilliant show put up by those magical feet of Lionel Messi's, Rangers held off strikers like Thierry Henry (although admittedly over the hill now - why else would Wenger have let him go?) and Messi himself, and nearly snatched victory themselves on a few occassions late in the game. They were only centimetres away each time from putting the ball into the net, which no doubt would have sparked wild celebrations akin to Celtic's victory over AC Milan in the previous round.

It appears now that Walter Smith's stature as a manager is growing, if not solidified. He turned Scotland from a laughing stock on the world stage to a team that more illustrious opponents have found difficult to get past. Now he is weaving his magic over an under-achieving Rangers team that lost its way last season with the pretender Le Guen.

It would be interesting to see if Rangers can continue the fine run and progress to the next round of the Champions League. At this rate, their chances are more than optimistic. It would have signalled that Scottish teams are an emerging force on the European stage, if not for the dreadful Celtic away showings.

But there's an easy solution to that - get rid of Gordon Strachan. If you've read his book on his time with Coventry, you'd know what I mean.